Finally: A Health-and-Wellness Plan for the (Stressed, Sleep-Deprived) Modern Woman

If you hate restrictive diet and exercise plans, but still want to make changes to get healthier and more fit, there's a new book for you: RETOX: Healthy Solutions for Real Life. Written by Lauren Imparato, an ex-Wall Streeter turned wellness expert and founder of I.AM.YOU Yoga Studio in Manhattan, the book challenges the way we approach wellness in our busy lives and shows us practical ways to be healthier. Glamour spoke with Imparato to learn why every modern woman should read her book and also picked up a great yoga flow to get rid of your "Alien Baby" otherwise known as the dreaded tummy bloat.

What was the inspiration for your book?

Lauren Imparato: Life! Straight up, down and dirty, chaotic and beautiful life. I moved to New York City when I was 21 to go to work on the trading floor of Morgan Stanley. I would sit there from 5:30 in the morning until at least 6 at night (and in my first years often past 9 P.M.) and tried desperately to feel great in that context. I ate my salads, drank endless water, worked out and did yoga every day—be it at 4:30 A.M. or 10 P.M.—and had a great, consistent relationship with my family and friends. Yet, I soon realized that modern life was more complicated and not as simple to solve. I longed for a handbook to help me keep it together while juggling my career, social life, health, and family. That's RETOX.

How did you go from Wall Street to wellness expert?

LI: In 2003, I started to practice yoga seven days a week with equally intense reading of yoga philosophy and anatomy alongside my time on the mat. I then began intense studies in nutrition and explorations into meditation and Tibetan Buddhist yoga theory. I had a hunch that this combination was the key to unlocking success and happiness no matter what life threw at me. It eventually evolved into my own business, I.AM.YOU., a 360-degree lens for wellness based on yoga, nourishment, mindset and music. I began to experiment RETOX methodologies on my clients, which forced me to deepen my studies, personal practice across the genres, and go deep for answers so that I could serve my students and their various ailments.

What can readers take away from your book?

LI: I wrote it for those of us who work hard and play hard, who know to eat green and sweat, but need tips on how to keep it together in the context of the life we really lead. This is everyone from the millennial student to the new mom to the CEO. RETOX offers bite-sized nuggets of information that you can apply to every aspect of your daily life, no matter where you are, what is going on, or what life throws at you. I dissect the 20 biggest problems of modern life like PMS, back pain, hangovers and sleep to more esoteric ones such as addiction to your phone, feeling fat, stress and anxiety to name a few. Then I provide one 360-degree solution for each. The yoga exercises include tips for the desk and the car, one-minute quick fixes, and complete sequences. The nourishment segments have snack ideas and shopping lists, recipes, tips for eating out and food remedies. The mind-set pulls from Tibetan yoga philosophy and offers cool action plans, mantras, and meditations. The music is to inspire you to hear a different sound of you. Collectively they provide the one RETOX cocktail to go take on modern life. The best thing is that you can use a different aspect every day or use them collectively as a whole.

What's your approach to diets and food?

LI: Dogma and restrictive diets are overrated. All real food is good food, especially if you understand each ingredient's specific properties. In RETOX, I do not encourage you to go gluten-free, sugar-free, or meat-free, but rather to understand how you are feeling and what your body needs, so you can then feed yourself to success, happiness and health. It is not about giving things up, eating real foods, or spending hundreds of dollars and hours in the kitchen. It's about combining basic, accessible ingredients in a way that enhance your body from the inside out and outside in. There is no point in stressing about what to eat. That's just silly. Instead, eat real. Eat what your body tells you it needs. And above all, be you. And PS: Chocolate, burgers and pizza are OK!

__What is the "Alien Baby"? __

LI: Alien Baby is that infamous bloated pooch at the bottom of your abdomen, sometimes painful, sometimes swollen, and almost always puffy and undesirable. Almost all of us suffer from that painful bloat at one time or another, but with RETOX, you do not have to. The yoga in RETOX cleanses your internal digestive system and helps to get that puffy area flat and down.